President Grabar-Kitarović reveals that the Prime Minister has proposed a person to be the director of the Security Intelligence Agency.
President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović strongly condemned terrorism, not just attacks in Brussels and Paris, but also terrorist attacks that occur every day around the world, calling for international solidarity in the fight to eradicate terrorism, reports Večernji List on March 23, 2016.
The President expressed her condolences to the families of victims of yesterday’s attack in Brussels and wished a speedy recovery to all those wounded in the attack. When asked whether Croatia was safe from terrorism, she said that Croatia is a safe country, but that people should be cautious. “Security must not be taken for granted”, she said and pointed out that it was extremely important to build homeland security system and to adjust the Armed Forces and security system to new threats. She also called on citizens to be vigilant, because terrorist attacks can be prevented if people notice anything unusual.
Journalists asked her about the Security Intelligence Agency (SOA) and its director Dragan Lozančić, whose dismissal she has signed and is now waiting for the signature of Prime Minister Tihomir Orešković.
The President expressed her confidence that the security service is functioning well, but she also pointed out that it was unusual that the agency had as its director a “person in whom the President does not have her confidence”. She stated that her goal was to have professional security services and added that the Prime Minister had proposed to her one person to be the SOA director, but she would not say who that person was.
In connection with the MiG overhaul scandal, the President said that she was extremely worried, but that she had for a long time expressed her concern over the situation in the Croatian Air Force, primarily because of the condition of MiGs. “We have had incidents before and now the aircraft are ‘grounded’ until we get more information”, she added.
“If it is proven that someone knowingly bought MiGs which do not match the official documents and are five years older than officially presented, then it is not just a question of corruption, political or military. It is a question of treason because these people were ‘playing’ and consciously reducing one of the key military capabilities of Croatia”, said Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović.
